I completely disagree with the notion that bringing an RV is bad or that they should be relegated to the back streets. I've been a burner for 13 years and have always brought an RV of some sort.

But I completely agree that "plug-and-play" burning is the kind of thing that will ruin the event if there's ever much of it. When I read the original post, I cringed. Yes Burning Man needs people with sufficient disposable income, but only if they are using it to do cool shit.

GreyCoyote: "At this rate it wont be long before he is Admiral Fukkit."Delle: Singularly we may be dysfunctional misfits, but together we're magic.

ePlaya is not for asking questions, it is not for meeting other burners, and it is certainly not for new people. It is for the same two dozen people to criticize everyone else when they ask a question, then make pages and pages of testosterony jokes to each other. You will most likely find, like I did when I first discovered ePlaya, and like I see happen to other people every time I try to return to this site, that asking a question, almost any question about almost any topic, is cause for being immediately attacked, ridiculed, and criticized. The regular denizens of ePlaya have no patience for people who ask questions that they also once had to ask, and are insanely offended if you ask a question they do not like/have already heard/consider self-evident.

I don't know if it's always been like this, but it certainly ossified into this hostile environment toward anyone not already accepted by the time I first started looking at it about two years ago.

Here's my advice. Do not engage, do not ask questions. Use ePlaya ONLY as a book - a one-way street of information. The search function is practically useless, but if you have hours to waste scrolling through endless pages of gifs and jokes between the same two dozen regulars, you might be able to find answers to your questions.

There is actually information to be had here, but engaging is such a terrible idea, it's almost not worth it.

ePlaya is not for asking questions, it is not for meeting other burners, and it is certainly not for new people. It is for the same two dozen people to criticize everyone else when they ask a question, then make pages and pages of testosterony jokes to each other. You will most likely find, like I did when I first discovered ePlaya, and like I see happen to other people every time I try to return to this site, that asking a question, almost any question about almost any topic, is cause for being immediately attacked, ridiculed, and criticized. The regular denizens of ePlaya have no patience for people who ask questions that they also once had to ask, and are insanely offended if you ask a question they do not like/have already heard/consider self-evident.

I don't know if it's always been like this, but it certainly ossified into this hostile environment toward anyone not already accepted by the time I first started looking at it about two years ago.

Here's my advice. Do not engage, do not ask questions. Use ePlaya ONLY as a book - a one-way street of information. The search function is practically useless, but if you have hours to waste scrolling through endless pages of gifs and jokes between the same two dozen regulars, you might be able to find answers to your questions.

There is actually information to be had here, but engaging is such a terrible idea, it's almost not worth it.

I used to feel fairly comfortable here myself. Not so much any more.

Some things are not funny. no matter how they are justified.

Oh yes, I have said my fair share of stupid things. Forgotten what it felt like to be the new kid. -

Love Rice

Roach: "I feel like in this day and age, every girl should know how to build a flamethrower."

I'm lots nicer than I used to be. The keyboard and screen de-personalizes everyone... kinda' like when someone in their car cuts you off and generally drives like a dick on the way to the grocery store, but the same person steps out of your way and lets you go ahead in line face-to-face at the checkout. When you go to the playa and meet the people you talk to here on eplaya, you always get along great even with the ones you thought you hated. The reason I use a photo of my "Land Yacht" on here rather than one of myself is on the playa, everyone sees and recognizes the boat... they'll yell "Hey! Captain Goddammit!!". I stop and pick them up. Then someone else does it, and this time I pick them up and say "Hi, I'm Capt GD, and this here is Sensei!" It works great and lots of us all get to meet in person. And have margaritas.Later on at home, everyone is a lot nicer on playa. Then new people come along and ask what seems like stupid questions, and we're dehumanized behind the keyboard and screen again...

GreyCoyote: "At this rate it wont be long before he is Admiral Fukkit."Delle: Singularly we may be dysfunctional misfits, but together we're magic.

Chowski wrote:There is actually information to be had here, but engaging is such a terrible idea, it's almost not worth it.

getting flamed is not unique to eplaya. i've spent a fair amount of time on several other fora where technical advice is dispensed, and i've seen the exact same patterns. some people are generous and others range from sarcastic to downright mean. people are people wherever you go.

having said that, there are some real gems here. it would be a misfortune to miss out on the wonderful people just because some others are having a bad day

Anyone taking offence at anything in my posts - tough. It's only an internet forum. Stop being overly sensitive. you are shallow and banal. Eplayans who spend hours a day posting need to make in person friends and mentally masturbate less.

+1000Eplaya is the same few dozen trolls shouting ranting screeds into the echo chamber for 4 hours per day, every day, for over a decade.

Chowski wrote:Oh, Shiny. You're not on the Playa, you're on ePlaya.

ePlaya is not for asking questions, it is not for meeting other burners, and it is certainly not for new people. It is for the same two dozen people to criticize everyone else when they ask a question, then make pages and pages of testosterony jokes to each other. You will most likely find, like I did when I first discovered ePlaya, and like I see happen to other people every time I try to return to this site, that asking a question, almost any question about almost any topic, is cause for being immediately attacked, ridiculed, and criticized. The regular denizens of ePlaya have no patience for people who ask questions that they also once had to ask, and are insanely offended if you ask a question they do not like/have already heard/consider self-evident.

I don't know if it's always been like this, but it certainly ossified into this hostile environment toward anyone not already accepted by the time I first started looking at it about two years ago.

Here's my advice. Do not engage, do not ask questions. Use ePlaya ONLY as a book - a one-way street of information. The search function is practically useless, but if you have hours to waste scrolling through endless pages of gifs and jokes between the same two dozen regulars, you might be able to find answers to your questions.

There is actually information to be had here, but engaging is such a terrible idea, it's almost not worth it.

Anyone taking offence at anything in my posts - tough. It's only an internet forum. Stop being overly sensitive. you are shallow and banal. Eplayans who spend hours a day posting need to make in person friends and mentally masturbate less.

I'd like to state for the record that my previous comment in this thread does not reflect my current view of this so-called poorly defined "tourism." As long as they're not shitting up the place by leaving a mess, harming or being a burden on others, let them come, one and all to enjoy the event. It makes no difference if you sleep in an RVs, plug-and-play camp, a hex-yurt, in a tent under a monkey hut, or even under the stars. None of those make you a better burner, or more authentic, though maybe you'll have more money in your pocket depending on your choices. It doesn't matter if you choose to "participate" (however the hell that is defined): you should participate because you want to participate, but perhaps you're missing out if you don't choose to make the most of your stay. Even being a "spectator" is great: nobody wants to DJ an empty dome.

And no, the above is not sarcasm.

"The essence of tyranny is not iron law. It is capricious law." -- Christopher Hitchens

ranger magnum wrote:So, Grey Coyote, RV's are for observers? So in order to be a participant, I need to tent it?

I worked almost 60 hours on Playa last year. I think that qualifies me as a participant. Certainly not an observer.

I have and bring an RV to the burn. And after a long, hot shift, I like to decompress in it.

It might be instructive to read the entire post. I think you only made it this far:

GreyCoyote wrote: Burning man is about participation and self-reliance. The general feeling is you will do very little of either if you are locked away in a motorhome.

(emph. mine)

The above would be a true statement. There are people who sit there in big over-stuffed chairs in their little air-conditioned bubbles watching the world go by outside like it's a freakshow. THEY NEVER LEAVE THE RV (except to clean the window). Later in the post I actually make it a point to explain there is nothing wrong with sleeping in an RV, camping, partying... whatever. Then I list just a few good reasons to do exactly that. Re-read what I wrote.

BTW: Congratulations on putting in 60 hours of hard work and supporting the event so outstandingly. That's truly impressive, Magnum. You get my Best Participant award and a provisional Best Burner nomination. But why are your tail feathers in a twist over a post that's a year old?

"To sum up my compassion level, I think we should feed the unwanted animals to the homeless. Or visa versa. Too much attention and money is spent on both."(A Beautiful Mind)

I'm shutting this long dead thread down, as attempts to revive it are nothing more than troll-baiting.

You can usually identify an internet troll by the pattern of behavior in their posts. They often reply to old conversations, usually with remarks intended to pick a fight or start an argument. They don't often make a very good case, because their goal isn't to prevail, it's to start an argument and get people worked up. If you see something that might fit that pattern of behavior, click on the user's name on the right side of their post and then click on Search User's Posts on the right side of their profile page. Pattern behavior is pretty easy to spot. You can then opt to just ignore the user's posts (don't feed the troll, as it were), or even mute them so you don't see their posts anymore.